Britannia – What`s The Verdict ?

P&O`s much fanfared new ship Britannia has been with us now for just over a year, so how has she lived up to her regal name and is she going to be as loved as all the other P&O ships?

Opinion seems to be very divided, lots of comments on our Cruise.co.uk website, but also passengers who I personally have booked on her have widely differing views of the ship.

In general P&O passengers like the cruise line because its good, solid, British cruising. Its almost like being at home, but abroad, if that makes sense. The ships are all quite similar in style and size, and quite often the smaller ships are lived more than the larger ones. I have recently spoken to clients who have retuned on a cruise to the Caribbean and Amazon on the small, but perfectly formed, Adonia and absolutely loved it. Her comment to me was why don`t P&O get more small ships?, and it is something I hear a lot, meaning bigger is not always better. Maybe Britannia`s size is something that is not liked too much by traditional cruisers.

So what about Britannia! One of the main complaints seems to be that the lifts and stairs are a bit unusual, that is not every lift goes to very floor and there are none right in the middle of the ship. Having been on her in a balcony cabin that was not near a lift I have to agree that it can be quite a long walk home at night, but good for working off the extra pounds! So the way round that is to pick your cabin number carefully, something that we can help you with.

” She`s very bland” is another comment relating, to the décor on her, but I would say her style is  a bit more sophisticated than on the other ships in the fleet, reminding me more of a Celebrity ship than say Ocean or Ventura. Her lighting is amazing and I found her a very relaxing ship to be on, and I think everyone agrees the food is very good with a huge choice of restaurants and entertainment venues to suite all tastes.

She will soon be entering her second summer season with P&O and her new itineraries for 2017 are due to be released very soon. Everyone has their own opinion of Britannia, personally I really liked her and I would say, if you haven’t tried her yet, give her a chance in 2017.